Harvard Says Tuition Will Now Be Free For Families Who Make $200K Or Less

Nowadays, it seems that everything is expensive. In fact, it not only seems this way, but it puts quite a financial strain on some people. Not being able to afford certain things, even important ones, like education, for instance, becomes more and more common.

Luckily, recently, prestigious universities, where education costs a pretty penny, decided to make their criteria for free tuition more flexible. To be more specific, they raised the threshold of what kind of income must they have in order for a student from it to qualify for free tuition. Among these schools are the University of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the most recent addition — Harvard University.

When everything is getting more and more expensive, some American universities decided to make their criteria for free tuitions more flexible

Young woman holding a laptop outside a university building, symbolizing free tuition announcement at Harvard.

Image credits: drobotdean / Freepik (not the actual photo)

One of these schools is the prestigious Harvard University — recently they announced that now all students coming from families who make $200,000 or less can get free tuition

Harvard University announced that starting from the upcoming academic year, they will be giving free tuition to all students, who come from families making $200,000 or less. 

This means that people from about 86% of American families can now qualify for free education in a university that is considered to be the most elite in the world as of 2025. 

Additionally, students who come from families making $100,000 or less will also qualify for free housing, food, and health services. 

Harvard library backdrop with "Est. 1636" sign, highlighting free tuition announcement.

Image credits: Clay Banks / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

As you can imagine, this is a big deal since annual tuition for Harvard isn’t cheap – for the 24/26 academic year, it was $56,550. But that’s excludes things like health services, housing, student services, and such; with them the cost becomes $82,866. So, it’s not something everyone can afford, even if they’re an excellent student.

Before this, Harvard used to offer free rides for low-income students and free tuition for those coming from families making at most $60,000 (in 2006) or $40,000 (in 2004). 

Harvard University president Alan M. Garber said that they decided to incorporate this new rule in their policy as (paraphrase) “a way to widen the array of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives students bring and encounter.” Essentially, by bringing diverse promising people together, the university hopes to foster their intellectual, and personal growth and “realize the tremendous potential of the University”. 

They’re doing so in order to bring people from more diverse backgrounds, so they could foster each other’s intellectual and personal growth

Harvard's historic buildings under a clear blue sky, symbolizing free tuition announcement for families earning $200K or less.

Image credits: Pixabay / Pixabay (not the actual photo)

While this news gives talented students a better chance to be able to study at this prestigious university, it still stands as one of the hardest places to get into. According to College Advisor, Harvard’s acceptance rate is 4.64%. For instance, nearly 60,000 applicants applied for the class of 2025, but only under 2000 of them were accepted. 

For a class of 2026, the early admission rate was 7.87%, meaning that out of 9,406 applications 740 of them were accepted. While regular decision candidates haven’t received their notifications yet (it’s supposed to come by the end of March), the overall acceptance rate for this class is still unclear. 

What’s also unclear is what percentage of the student body will qualify for free tuition with the new qualification criteria. What’s clear is that this new rule is supposed to help at least a handful of students. 

This means that now people from about 86% of American families can qualify for Harvard free tuition

Harvard Campus Services truck amidst a crowd, highlighting free tuition news for families earning $200K or less.

Image credits: Matthis Volquardsen / Pexels (not the actual photo)

Besides, Harvard University isn’t the only place offering free tuition based on income, there’s a whole list of them, including such names as Stanford, Princeton, and plenty of others. Some institutions, such as the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have recently raised the ceiling for free tuition eligibility to families earning less than $200,000. 

American agricultural scientist and inventor George Washington Carver said “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom”, so we hope today’s news will provide deserving individuals with access to said education.

As some netizens pointed out, is a great news not only for those people, but also for education overall, as this school is known to attract brilliant minds

Tweet reaction after Harvard's free tuition announcement for families earning $200K or less.

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Tweet praising Harvard's decision on free tuition, sparking online discussions.

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Tweet reacting to Harvard's free tuition announcement for families making $200K or less.

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Tweet from user about free tuition, expressing hope their university follows Harvard's lead.

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Tweet discussing Harvard tuition costs and affordability for upper-class families.

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Tweet discussing Harvard's free tuition for families making $200K or less, highlighting academic requirements.

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Tweet about Harvard's free tuition highlights GPA requirements and financial aid for achievers.

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Tweet commenting on Harvard's free tuition announcement, pointing out acceptance is still required.

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Tweet by Amplify Social saying "Big win for families!" in response to Harvard's free tuition news.

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